


Sky Trips

by phantomzone08



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alien Cultural Differences, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Space, Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Antoine Triplett Lives, Dorks in Love, Established Relationship, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Inhumans (Marvel), Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Phil Coulson Has the Patience of a Saint, SHIELD Family, The Borg
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-11-22 16:33:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11384076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomzone08/pseuds/phantomzone08
Summary: Daisy has lost her spark and maybe her mind after her time as a prisoner controlled by the Borg but Trip is stubborn enough not to let her give up.Things are complicated but even in space there can be slivers of light to cut through the darkness. Those sparks are the people you find around you, it's that element of hope every species needs.Too bad getting Skye on her feet again isn't the only challenge the crew of the affectionately named Bus will have to face.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing, not a thing.

Star Trek/Agents of Shield  
  
Paring: Skye/Trip and a few others

* * *

She watched, helpless, heart shattering with every piece of grey stone that broke away from the whole that once made up a body, a person, an amazing person. The bronze and chocolate skin, so smooth and healthy, it's all grey. His eyes used to gleam with a strange sort of glow only he had, humor hiding in them at all times, glowing with personality that could not be contained; his bright personality spilled out in his words and through his eyes. It's not fair for someone so beyond alive, so vibrant, to become what she sees. He crumbles right before her, like old, forgotten stone that was too soft to weather time. It should not be so easy, so easy for anything to take him. He is far too glorious, the sun itself, vibrant in a way nothing else in life ever could be, full of life, except now it's gone and he's breaking apart. She thinks it looks something like volcanic rock... like a person was drowned in it and shaped only to fall away in the wind.

It's sickening the way she knows he is gone, knows she can't reach him now, but can't even move to try.

It wasn't fair! He should never die!  
  
"Trip!" She screams, because there is nothing else she can do, nothing at all, but she has to do something, has to deny the truth for a few seconds more. She does not know how long she screams but her throat hurts and it doesn't matter.  
  
Skye's eyes open with a snap, body nearly convulsing with the force of her jump, like her mind was so desperate to wake that her body responded to escape, but she screams his name again without meaning to. She can feel the tears spilling from the corners of her eyes now that she opened them to let the buildup free.  
  
"Hey, hey," sleepy, tired voice made husky from disuse, "easy, girl, it's okay." An arm drapes over her in a heavy sprawl that lacks coordination, "'m right here, s'okay. You're safe, girl, I promise."  
  
The beats of her heart are rapid with lingering panic and her breaths are desperate gasps. Her body is shaking and so it the bed, and the table. It's really a good thing they are in space and she has things to control her. The room is specially made, no less. Highly intelligent of Coulson to make those changes, offer her a place to contain herself when she needs it. Her quarters can detach from the ship a fly beside it on its own if needs be.

The shaking has not stopped and he begins to coil around her like an octopus. It is impressive for a human to be able to wind so totally around another body the way he manages. Trip is as human as she once thought she was but he is better than anyone from any other race she has ever found. He is, she would say with all confidence, the most ideal human there ever could be. Perfect, really.  
  
"You're safe, Skye." He repeats, nuzzling his nose into her dark hair, breath hot against the back of her neck as he just pulls her more tightly to his body, chest to her back, encasing her with his legs and arms.  
  
She's not worried about her safety, could care less about that, but his voice is enough to assure her that he's alive.  
  
They are in her quarters, bare and desolate, devoid of much in the way of personal touch other than the frantically bobbing hula dancer by her bed. She never kept much in the way of personal items but after the crew recovered her and she returned, she held onto almost nothing. White, padded walls, white lights, white furniture melded to the floor; she could not rearrange if she wanted to. Most rooms are variants of grey but hers is white. It makes it easy to see dirt and makes it feel like the med bay.

Antoine's room is fully of everything that makes him the most interesting person anyone knows. He has things his great, great grandfather's great grandfather kept from a war she doesn't remember the name of, but Trip would. Captain Coulson would know too, nearly drooled the first time he saw everything Trip collected; Phil is a collector too. The old items are preserved perfectly and carefully, have been for many generations that cared about their history, and all of it should really be in a museum of human history but it isn't.

When they sleep in his room the dreams might be worse because she is surrounded by his essence in every way and it makes her even more afraid of having lost him. She has dreams of his death but she never tells him about them, never explains them. It feels like explaining might make them come true, and she can't let that happen, not to him.  
  
He thinks she has nightmares about the Borg and she doesn't correct him. Sometimes she does dream about the Borg, about her capture, about what they did to her while she still had enough of her mind left to know what was happening.  
  
She is slowly coming back to herself, mostly human again. She looks almost normal now that her hair has come back and reaches her shoulders. Fitz and Simmons worked miracles on her, kept her alive and restored her the way no one else could have. They made it possible for her to function, to have a mind of her own but they still seem to feel they did not do enough. Her body no longer looks like a human, machine hybrid save a few places.

The gauntlets FitzSimmons made for her were hijacked and used by the Borg, affixed to her and made a part of her until it would do more harm than good to take them off. They are more disturbed by the gauntlets than she is but she thinks it's mostly because it is a reminder. It might feel the same to her if something she made was used to harm someone when it was intended to help, though they do help, they keep her under control.

Trip pressed a gentle kiss to her shoulder, sliding his fingers in through hers so he could hold her hand without expending the effort to keep his fingers locked. He is using her as much as a pillow as anything now that the shaking has stopped. Sleep is clearly cling to him and he might not last much longer. She stays still, thinking it might be best to let him drift away. He had a late shift.

Skye is not human, never truly was so mechanical enhancements are one more thing to add to the list that makes her different. While she knew who she was; human father Calvin Johnson; Inhuman mother Jiaying; things had changed. Only the crew knew her fully history, knew she was Inhuman, knew that the Borg and their tampering had nothing to do with the reason she can make things shake.  No one outside the ship know of her mother, know that she even knows her father beyond a slip of paper telling her he signer her away. They hide her secrets, guard her like a pack of watchdogs, closing ranks if anyone even looks at her. She is not sure that even Admiral Fury knows about her.

She is still listed as Lieutenant Junior Grade, Daisy Johnson but it hardly counts anymore; not after her powers awakened to make her an Inhuman; not after she subsequently was captured by Cardassians only to escape and land herself not into freedom, but right in Borg hands. She had tasted freedom, victory of escape, but she never made it back to the Bus.

Some Admiral talked about giving her a medal for essentially surviving all of that. Trip thought she deserved it, Fitz thought she should take it, May said it would mark her as a survivor so she would always know how tough she really was. She cared nothing about a reward for what happened, but May knew that.

Her entry into Starfleet had always been a little interesting anyway considering she started as a prisoner, should probably have started out as a Petty Officer at best rather than Ensign, and moved up in rank only after their ship, the Bus, was nearly destroyed in one of their many, many skirmishes with Cardassian forces. Skye hardly got used to being in Starfleet before she moved up a rank. Captain Coulson arranged it all, every step, but she hardly felt she still deserved a rank at all considering she nearly killed all of them while under Borg control, Mack in particular.

If you really wanted to get technical, which she very much did in the privacy of her own mind, she was the reason they lost former Third Officer, Lieutenant Grant Ward. Her memory was rather shady on that time but she remembered him coming in after her, like he really believed he could get them both away from the Borg. She did not remember everything but she knew perfectly well that neither of them got out. Ward was not stupid, he knew going in after her was as good as suicide, even if he was stronger and faster than a human, but he did it anyway. Stupid, stupid man!

While he had transferred off their ship once she caught him playing double agent, he still heard her distress call and he still came. Why he was in the quadrant she might never know. A traitor to the Federation in some degree by passing along information to Cardassians, not much better than an assassin, but he still tried to take on the impossible. He never even made it to a hearing, never was punished because he was too valuable. He knew too much about too many things to be in any real danger, and he was the poster-child for peace between the Federation and other worlds, ironically, because he was Romulan serving as an officer. She almost doubted much would have been done to him, maybe not even a court-marshal. He had still been in active duty, not even probation.

He loved her, she knew that, but she wished he never had for his sake. She wished she had never loved him either since it would have saved her a broken heart after she realized the truth about him. Everyone always was a little wary of him to some degree considering Romulans were not known for their loyalty to the Federation, but he won them all over. He might not have been raised by the Romulans, left to die as an infant for some perceived defect he was born with and found by Ferengi, but he was a bit of a gamble on Coulson's part. He always insisted he had to really betrayed them but he left all the same. It did not sit well with her that he was with the Borg; that was guilt talking, of course.

She turned in Trip's arms and nuzzled her face into his neck. He was already asleep again but that was a comfort all its own. Trip is her rock, had been for a very long time. She hardly knew him to start with, was half dead when they actually met, but she was always attracted to his light, his smile, the way he seemed to walk on air even when he was clearly on the ground. He had imagination but he was very grounded. When she needed it he made her laugh, could fill the silence or he could just sit beside her like silence was just as good. Whatever the situation, he knew what to do. He always had her back and everyone else's too. Captain America could not have been better than Antoine Triplett; not that she had met the man even if he and his crew had been freed from cryosleep, but she still could not imagine a better man existed. Even Phil, an avid fan of the once famous crew of the Avenger, might agree.

Trip picked her up and dusted her off as a friend after Ward left the first time once she revealed his secret, after they all nearly died in their first big clash with the Cardassion fleet called Hydra. He saved several of their necks in that battle and no one could really help but adore him. Daisy fell hardest even if she fell a little slower, or fell in love slower. It did not take long for him to become her sun. She told him once, somewhere in the beginning, that she thought he was like the sun; warm; bright; a lifesaver. Trip laughed like he thought it was really not a very good description of him and said; "Girl, if I'm the sun, you're the sky."

She was fairly sure that was why shy had been so sure her name was Skye after her brain had been scrambled a little. It was probably why she kept it too, after she stopped seeing herself as Daisy Johnson. Daisy was gone, she was fairly sure, but Trip thought she was the sky, so it surely meant she was big enough to become something new. A few days ago he said he loved her like he loved air. She told him he was a hopeless romantic. 

"If I'm your air, you're my gravity, holding me together." She whispered against his lips, making his lids flutter.

"I do what I can." He slurred.

Skye pressed her lips to his and he made a valiant effort to wake up enough to kiss her back. The kiss was not particularly graceful but it was sweet and endearing, like him. He was a sap but it was kind of nice, at least if it was him. He was the best, worst romantic that had ever lived and she was so lucky to have him, lucky he never gave up on her even when no one believed she was capable of remembering them. It must have been hell on him but he stuck with her, they all had, but none more closely than he did. Even after she tried to stab him, he came right back, still grinning. "You always did have spunk girl, but I bring the funk." That was the first time she remembered anything from her past. It helped that she had not been with the Borg very long, but it had been long enough. Trip brought back her first real memory though, and he brought back others.

He and Mack had come to see her and her second memory came back when Mack said; "Hey, Tremors, how you feeling?"

From there it got easier, she stopped shaking and falling apart every time she remembered something. If she lost control, Trip was always there, a loving octopus that held her till she could hold her own. If he had ever been afraid of her, he never showed it, just talked her through like he was giving her directions to the common room. 

Skye kissed him with a loud smack of lips before she pulled away, stroking his face and his perennially perfectly sculpted facial hair. "You're perfect, you know?"

Trip smirked, eyes more than half-lidded, "You're only saying that now because you don't think I'm awake enough to remember in the morning."

She found herself laughing, and it was still a little rare to feel enough joy to be able to express that, "Maybe." She kissed him again, the novelty never wearing off, "You awake enough to... bring the funk?"

Antoine laughed, deep and musical, "Oh, I can bring it, day or night, girl!"

A little impulsively, she leaned in and ran her teeth over the lobe of his ear very carefully, drawing a long groan out of him. With a little growl he pulled her too him, kissing anything he could catch. His hands splayed and rubbed carefully over her back, he was always careful with her, like she was precious.

"I should let you sleep." She offered without really meaning it.

" _Oh no_ , not after you woke me up like that! I'm awake, I'm awake!"

She pushed her hands to his chest, leaning out of the reach of his mouth, "But you were tired," she drawled.

"You love to tease, don't you? Vixen!" He caught a kiss to her jaw anyway.

"You love it, don't lie." She leaned back into his arms, planting a kiss to his nose.

"You're right, I love it. I love you!" He looked so fond and it was almost hard to see.

"Even if I'm evil?" She asked playfully.

"You know I love that too! There's noting not to love." And he could say that even when her gauntlets were pressed against his chest as that little reminder, even when she knew he could feel the scars on her scalp when his fingers sank into her hair.

"I love you more." Skye offered, because nothing and no one could love him more than she did.

"How about we call it even and get back to the kissing?" His smile could light up the whole ship.

"Deal."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of mixed the Borg, Hydra, Hive, and Aida into the same idea, entity, thing. Kind of.

Star Trek/Agents of Shield  
  
Paring: Skye/Trip and a few others

* * *

 

The first time he saw Daisy Johnson she had been a step away from deaths door, just about to knock. Trip remembered it all very clearly. People from her crew hovered around her, afraid to breathe too hard just in case it might push her over that little threshold. His unite stumbled onto her very desperate crew utterly by chance. For their sake he had been rather glad his ship had been passing that part of the Quadrant when it had or they might not have made it. They clamored onto his ship, dragging that cryco tube with them like it held the keys to all their lives. The Captain seemed a man that was usually composed but it had been slipping when he and his bloodied crew explained how their away team had been ambushed, incapacitated, and totally stranded on a pod running on almost no power. They managed to get into the air in hopes of limping their way back to their ship with their precious cargo.

The first thing that had struck him was Ward since that was the only face he had seen on other occasions. They had gone on missions before and he always thought the Romulan was a lot more Vulcan than anything else with his emotionless edifice. When he looked at that girl there was desperation in his eyes, pure terror like the world would come to a horrific end if she died. That spoke for her more than anything since it would take a very special person to get under that man's skin.

Trip's crew helped them escape a rather tight situation with the Cardassians and they managed to keep the crews and their nearly dead crew member alive. He learned the story of what she did, who she faced down, and he began to understand why Ward was twitchy and passed by the med bay every five minutes. Every story he heard made it clear why the Captain acted like the free worlds might fall if she did not pull through; understood why the much acclaimed First Officer most people called the 'Cavalry', who had Vulcan blood running somewhere in her family tree had such emotion in her eyes every time she looked at the weak figure on the bed. 

The second time he set eyes on her, she was walking on her own power. The wind from a shuttle whipped around her, blowing her hair into her face no matter how many times she pushed it back, so much so that it was obvious part of the time she was walking blind and hoping the ground would not betray her. It was then that he realized just how beautiful she was. Part of him had realized it before but it was something not at the forefront of his mind when she was grey and had machines breathing for her. Johnson was gorgeous when she looked alive! Exotic in a non-alien way. Her eye sparkled like black diamonds, or something poetic like that. That smile of hers could light up a city. Looking at her felt like looking at a game changer, looking at someone infinitely better than what most people might credit her with.

Getting to know her had been an adventure. Being her friend was better than fun. Falling for her had been as natural as breathing. Over time he had gotten to know her very well, learned her like he did anyone. Being an agent in the Federation meant learning people, so he had always been a quick study. He learned the difference between Daisy and Skye rather quickly and the differences were a stab to the chest every time he noticed them. Skye had lost a lot of her fire and she gained a whole lot of self loathing. Hearing her say how great her recovery was going never put him at ease.  

Skye was far from fine. There was nothing big, no monumental tells she exhibited to let him know, it was the little things. The devil was in the details. He saw it every time she intentionally put her right knee down, pressing it and her weight onto a bench or a sofa. She never flinched, just eased herself down the rest of the way, punishing herself with that little bit of pain he knew she felt from that deep residual scar. She always fidgeted with that knee so he knew it still bothered her. It was the little ways she tortured herself each day that let him know she was not as recovered as she wanted them to believe.

The dreams were really rather expected considering what she went through. He could only guess at most of it but he had a decent grasp on the kind of horrors she must have seen and been through. In truth, if she slept peacefully he might have been more worried.

No one outside the BUS thought they could save her even after they managed to capture her alive. They believed they could bring back the girl they all knew and loved. It was sheer force of will that did it. They willed it hard enough, at least that was what he decided. They held on tight enough that it held her together. Trip was relatively new to the BUS family but he felt the bonds, saw the proof of their strength. In a weird, very different and good way, the BUS was like the Borg; intensely strong and unstoppable together. 

FitzSimmons managed to work their magic on the nanotech in her blood, rendering it useless. It was removed slowly from her blood and her brain, healing her in increments until it was all done. What had been left to fix was what it did to her mind. After her connection was cut she was so confused, questioning them in that typical Borg jargon that had all the personality of a nineteenth century computer, which had been so jarring to hear. He had been hoping, the way all of them had, that the minute she was unplugged she would be normal. Instead, once they explained her rescue she demanded to be returned screaming an unsettling "We are Borg" along with resisting her restraints. They were forced to put her into a containment section in the brig. It was all the collective 'we' and calling herself a drone for some time, resisting all their help, looking at them as if she never knew them. It had been anything but an instant fix even after her body began to fight back against the unnatural Borg modifications and she slowly got color back in her skin, she was anything but Daisy. She went so far as to insist she had no _designation,_ until one day she was _Skye_. 

She had not been the woman he fell in love with and it hurt on every possible level to watch her, see her out of her mind like that. It hurt to see her as Borg and it hurt to see her coming down off that mind control. There had always been so much personality wrapped up in that girl that couldn't help spilling over, but the Borg did not have individuality so neither had she. It took time and a hell of a lot of persistence, but she began to remember them, began to come back into herself. The royal 'we' faded away but she stopped being Daisy and started being Skye. Whatever happened, she no longer believed in herself or who she had been.

"I'm not Daisy anymore, Trip." She told him quietly one day, "It's hard to explain, but she's not here anymore. I'm a different person... but you make me think... I can be someone, so I want to be Skye, someone that's not tied to the ground just because I can shake it. Being in the air is the only time things stop buzzing and stop hurting." His heart might have broken a little more when he heard that.

He knew the Borg felt no pain so he imagined it had been peaceful in that regard. They had no pain, no regrets, not loss, no individuality, none of the things that plagued her now. Following orders, Simmons said, was like a high that infected their brains. First is was assimilation and then it was unity and dopamine. It was frightening on a lot of levels, especially during the time Skye was so desperate to return. He understood though, she was in pain and she wanted it to stop. They literally changed her brain, hurt her in unimaginable ways and forced her to love them for it.

It hardly seemed fair that she had to suffer so much. It already seemed she had more than her share of it just since he had known her. He was more than slightly determined that one day he would make things right, or as good as he could get them for her. Whatever a happily ever after looked like to her, he wanted her to have it. Some day she would be happy again, it was that simple.

"C'mon, girl!" He grinned, holding out his hand, "Live a little!"

Skye smirked at him, slapping their palms together and letting him drag her down the ramp and onto the rich black ground. "Just because our scanners say its safe doesn't mean it is, you know. There could be crazy stuff out here just waiting to eat us. Killer plants or something."

"Hey, I never did like Kale, so I think it's only right if plants don't try and eat me. Luck is on our side thanks to me."

She arched a brow and cocked her head to the side. "There was absolutely zero logic in that sentence so I'm not sure how you think that makes you lucky. It just proves you have no Vulcan blood anywhere in your body, unlike May."

"It makes sense if you think hard enough on it, girl, don't question it! Just go with it!" Trip swept her up, wrestling her into a workable piggyback position despite her laughing insistence that he stop. She was herself today, for the most part, just more subdued and less snarky.

"Weirdo!" Her arms were draped over his shoulders and around his chest, her cheek pressed against the back of his head affectionately. 

"Only in the best possible way!" He grinned, a spring in his step. It might not be perfect but he liked keeping her off the ground in hopes that it helped her in some small way.

"Right, right, sure! Your genius is in your insanity."

"All the best people are crazy! Keeps life interesting." And she laughed at him, or with him, either way. "Elena and Mack are coming out here too, by the way, so it's not that crazy."

"That's not really saying much. A vote of confidence would be if Phil and May were coming out, or Fitz and Simmons." Skye countered lightly.

"Hey! We resent that!" Elena yelled from some distance behind, her earth born accent somehow intact even after all the travels, strolling hand in hand with Mack like a couple teenagers. 

Trip and Skye both looked back, shooting the couple an amused look. They all needed a little fun in their lives. The planet they were gathering samples from was safe, a well known stopping point for gathering zinc, iridium, phosphate, and whatever else the science crew wanted. It was something to do with the double moons, no sun, pink and orange trees, and a host of others elements. All the strange stuff you could not come by one earth soil. Trip never paid much attention to that aspect of daily ship life. He was all about gadgets and technology, computers, weapons, and security. 

"Fitz and Simmons are coming out here, just not for fun. SO we technically meet your specifications." Mack interjected once they were closer, that deep voice rumbling up like everything he said was absolute law even though you'd never find a more gentle giant out there; unless there was a threat to the team, then all bets were off.

No one commented on Trip carrying Daisy. Everyone was a bit more careful about teasing her, trying very hard to stay in the safe zones when they were with her. They tried not to be different with her but it was a challenge not to behave with more care considering how short a time she had been lucid and out of containment. Mack had been only too willing to forget the whole thing but Skye still got that far away gleam, reliving Mack's near miss at her hand. Mack was far from stupid and he knew how damaged she still was, so he used those kid gloves on his enormous hands and tried not to make anything hard on her. Yo Yo acted like nothing happened but there was undeniable distance.

Elena had been part of Daisy's team, a fellow Inhuman, turned in the same incident as Daisy, but after Daisy was captured it nearly cost her everything. In trying to save her previous S.O. as well as get Mack away from a deadly confrontation with the Borg and Daisy, Elena tipped her hand in front of more than just the BUS. People found out she was Inhuman and nearly separated her from the team.

The Federation was skittish after the incident with the Winter Soldier; aka Captain Barns, Khan, Bucky, James, Super Soldier, and a host of other names; one of the first known Inhumans and a former slave to the Cardassians. Even with the Winter Soldier back in cryo, people were still nervous of even a hint of Inhumans. Supposedly they were not supposed to exist outside the previously long lost ship 'S.S. Avenger'. Captain America, Tony Stark, and a few other legends of bygone were free and awake now, but that did little to stall any of the panic. No one even fully understood why the ship had the Winter Soldier aboard it to start with let alone why Admiral Pierce woke such a dangerous man from the history books, though there was a great deal of speculation. It mattered very little now.

Either way, Coulson and Mace stood on their heads to keep her with the BUS. It helped that Admiral Fury liked Captain Coulson and Fleet Captain Mace. They might have all been split up otherwise. No one but Coulson had trusted Mace in the beginning but he pulled through when they needed him, when Skye and Elena needed him, so that made him alright in Trip's book.

Things were a lot more complicated than they once were. It was starting to balance out, equal out.

Today was suppose to be fun though, which meant keeping Skye fully distracted so the minute they arrived at the lake, with perfectly safe levels of everything, he checked before hand, he took a running leap with Skye still on his back. The water was clean, translucently white, allowing a person to see all the way down. It was not drinking water, had no ability to quench thirst but was safe anyway, for reasons only the science team could explain and actually understand. Once they surfaced she was quick to smack him in the arm and push him right back under the surface for a minute. It was only when something started to spark that he remembered they still had their comms on.  

Trip and Skye ripped off the short range comm device and tossed them onto a rock to dry. Another thing this water had made it rough on a comm link. The ones they usually took on missions would not have had any trouble with the water at all, but those were unfortunately not the durable ones. Should have thought of that sooner.

Mack stared down at them, shaking his head slowly like a parent watching children break some common house item. Elena just grinned, arms crossed, and hip cocked like she expected no less from the two of them. They looked good together. A broad, big man with a lithe panther, caramel and chocolate, it just mixed well. He and Skye were not quite as visually striking for their complementary differences, if he was taller and bulkier they might be, but he always thought they looked pretty damn fine together anyway.

"What are we going to do with you two?" Elena dropped down on the bank to bask in the bright, bright light of the two moons.

"Don't expect me to carry anyone back just because you slosh when you walk." Mack looked a little smug as he took his comm off as well as his boots, set them aside before lowering himself down to dangle his feet in the water.

Skye sent a sweeping wave at both of them and managed to get them adequately wet, which roused a good bit of laughter. It also meant Mack kicked water back and Elena got her arms wet gaining revenge. They needed those laughs, they really did. A water battle might not have been the most grown up way to go about that but it worked very well!

"Alright, Tremors!" Mack warned before dropping into the water, causing Skye to beat a retreat toward the other bank.

Trip took the opportunity to yank Elena in, much to her surprise. She was fast, but catching her worked so long as she didn't see it coming.

She sputtered to the surface with a grin and a thick accented threat, "Ah, so that's how it is? Well, I guess it's time I school you!"

Trip found himself dunked at super speed as well as having his boots stolen and hung up in a tree. "Impressive!" He congratulated.

"Trip! Help!" Skye screamed his name and he turned to watch her being hoisted up and away from her near escape and tossed right back into the middle of the lake with a colossal splash. She surfaced, water steaming down her face before she swiped it away with both hands, glaring first at a beaming Mack and then at Trip, "What kind of boyfriend doesn't help a girl out, huh?"

Trip shrugged, about to say something before he found himself dunked again. Mack and Elena exchanged a moderately complicated high-five at schooling their competition, which would have been more endearing if he had not been the one not winning. He did not so much mind not winning but those two got pretty smug when they won. Same thing happened when they played Kamakoin, those two dominated.

"Why are all of you in the water?" Jemma's bemused voice floated out to them from her place on the shore.

The two stood just to the side of the lake, science bookends, is what his grandfather would have called them. Datapads stuck under their arms per usual. Chief Science and Engineering Officers, Lieutenant Commanders FitzSimmons. They did not need a deputy or junior science officers on the ship, nor engineering with those two, even though they had several of them, and the two tended to serve together as medical officers as well. Though Simmons technically was head of that department and Fitz was was Engineering they were essentially always together in either department anyway, even after all the time it had been since they first joined the BUS, still joined at the hip the way everyone told him they had been from before day one. They had assistants but they were each other's world, they did not need anyone else. At least they were finally dating rather than pretending not to be in love. Most people no longer called them twins anyway. 

"Because?" Skye dragged out the word.

Fitz chuckled, shifting a case of samples in his arm, one of his many tiny drones hovering behind, "Why am I not surprised?"

Simmons held her chin aloft in mock irritation, "Here we are, working, and they play in the water. How's that for you?"

Trip was fairly sure the wall of water sent their direction was complements of Elena but he could not say for certain. Either way, the startled cries and swift fleeing happening was entertaining.  Even the flying Android dodged. The science team was behind trees fast enough they might have been the ones with super powers; or like a couple cats that suddenly found the ability to walk on water once it was bath time.

"Our samples!" Simmons protested with actual alarm, "You could have gotten them wet! Then we would have to gather them all over again and we already took the choicest batch so anything we got after they would just be of lesser quality."

"Oh, yeah, no, Jemma, don't worry about me at all! I needed a bath in alien territory anyway. It's not life I might catch a cold." Fitz mumbled from behind his respective tree.

"You wouldn't melt and it's highly unlikely you'd catch a cold, highly unlikely. Some of our samples would though. Melt, that is." The prim little British accent arose fully. Their accents always grew more dominant when they talked about science. 

It was times like this when they were almost back to their old selves.

The telling chir of the comms sounded and had all their attention when First Officer, Commander May's sharp voice came over; "I need you all back on the ship. Now. We've got company."

The light mood shattered and they were all clamoring to get out of the water and gather their things. The science officers each helped drag them out of the water, careful of their samples but too polite not to help a friend. Trip did love those two even if Fitz still did not know how to return a fist-bump properly. To be fair, it was a little outdated but Trip liked outdated things.

Wet boots were reclaimed and forced on even though it was not the most pleasant thing in the world. It was a frenzy to get themselves back to the ship considering they had no idea the nature of their company. Knowing their luck it was probably nothing good. It never was. Next time maybe they could have a full afternoon of fun without getting it interrupted. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got this theory that the reason stuff worked on Bucky and Steve was because they were both Inhuman, pre teragenesis. It doesn't take with anyone else because they haven't tried it on an Inhuman since. No one knows why it doesn't work so no one really gets it right and it might also only work on selective Inhuman types. Anyway, that's what the Bucky thing was, just a mesh of the Khan incident and the Marvel Winter Soldier. And if he was protecting Steve, and the others too, I'm pretty sure he would do anything he needed to. Though it probably would not have played out exactly like it did in the new movie or in the classic ST, I'm thinking it could have just been a mix the the "Winter Soldier" and ST "Into Darkness" with Steve getting woken up somewhere along the line and probably desperately trying to fix things... but that's not super relevant to the story, just my reason the Federation might not be super keen on Inhumans.
> 
> Also, I'm going to end it here for maybe ever. I'll decide late but I'm not liking this charter and where it took me or how it developed. So yeah.


End file.
